Read Tokyo Ink (Gay SF Erotica) for Free Online

whenever I want it?"
    "Tori wouldn't..."
    "When he's seen me pop a couple Purple Rains and stick my ear buds in, when he's twenty feet away and whispering, you think he's worried what a stoned-out danshou hears?"
    "Magnifiers and--"
    "Sugar pills," Gabe finished. He melted into the wall then, an image of transcendent bliss, eyes rolling back in his head as his mouth went slack. His skin rippled and he let out a little moan.
    Tetsu had to give Gabe credit. He could act.
    Gabe shook the illusion away and winked at Tetsu. "When are you going to learn -- I'm the best, baby. Can we go now?"
    Tetsu wasn't ready to relent, not quite. "Not another step until you tell me where."
    “The Valnyk building.” A quick twist and Gabe was out from between Tetsu's body and the wall. "Satisfied?"
    Tetsu shook his head. ValCo was no friend to Iyashii. Each company had areas of interest the other wished to take over. ValCo wanted in on the prisons. Iyashii had petitioned for mineral and water exploitation rights in Canada the last three years straight and would have received the grant if the CBC officers they kept bribing hadn’t wound up dead. That was fair enough considering how many ValCo execs had received involuntary recruiting visits from Obara no Ryuu.
    But who at ValCo would be particularly susceptible to Gabe’s charms. Certainly no Valnyk execs had shown up on the security scan as clients of Gabe. “Tell me who.”
    “The CEO.” Gabe offered Tetsu a flat, wry smile, but his gaze narrowed.
    Magnus Valnyk -- late fifties, second generation Canadian. Ruthless in a way that made him successful and well-respected by his Japanese competitors. His private life was just that -- private. If he’d been doing the dancer on the side, nostalgic perhaps for a homegrown accent, no one would have known. But he wasn’t the kind of man you went to for favors -- or safety.
    Tetsu grabbed Gabe's arm. “We need to go back to the safe house and think this through. Magnus Valnyk isn’t going to help you.”
    “No,” Gabe agreed. “But he’ll help himself. You’re going to hand him enough information on Iyashii to do some serious damage to the company.”
    “Why would I do that?” It was difficult reading Gabe’s face in the shadows, and the dancer’s expression seldom gave anything away.
    And any moments of revelation were suspect.
    “One, you’ll do it for protection -- for both of us.” Gabe’s answer was matter-of-fact, like he’d been asked to name Jupiter’s moons or calculate the distance of Saturn’s orbit. “Two, you’ll do it to bring Iyashii down. Feed Valnyk what you want to get what you want. You want Shimizu closed down? Valnyk can do that.”
    “And open up his own facility,” Tetsu offered. “No thanks.”
    Gabe shrugged. “Then go back to your safe room.”
    He turned, using his dancer’s grace to slip away from Tetsu’s grasp. By the time Tetsu realized he was grabbing at shadows, Gabe was at the mouth of the alley, stepping into the daylight of the open street. Tetsu followed. He might be going to his death. He knew that. If he presented himself to Valnyk and then turned the man down because the cost was too high, the bastard would hand deliver him and Gabe to Iyashii.
    Well, maybe not Gabe. Tetsu still didn’t have that figured out, especially with the way Gabe was walking straight up to the front door of ValCo's Japanese headquarters. The dancer turned, gestured briefly in Tetsu’s direction while he said something to the guard stationed out front and then entered the building.
    Tetsu crossed the street slowly, watching the guard on the door as he went. He knew the stance, guessed the caliber and fit of the man’s weapon by the way he held his hand close to his side. If Tetsu turned now and walked away, would the guard follow him?
    It wasn't the guard who mattered. It was Gabe, and what he knew about the Code.
    Tetsu stepped onto the curb. He held his hands palms forward, arms slightly out. The doorman